Thursday, 22 August 2013

She hears, upon that water without sound,
A voice that cries, "The tomb in Palestine
Is not the porch of spirits lingering.
It is the grave of Jesus, where he lay."
We live in an old chaos of the sun,
Or old dependency of day and night,
Or island solitude, unsponsored, free,
Of that wide water, inescapable.
Deer walk upon our mountains, and the quail
Whistle about us their spontaneous cries;
Sweet berries ripen in the wilderness;
And, in the isolation of the sky,
At evening, casual flocks of pigeons make
Ambiguous undulations as they sink,
Downward to darkness, on extended wings.

Wallace Stevens: from Sunday Morning (1915), in Harmonium, 1923

Reflection
in an oil pool in the middle of a forest near Palestine, Texas. The oil
remains after the Kimball oil field operations: photo by Marc St. Gil for the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica Project, June 1972 (US National Archives)

Forest vegetation is polluted by oil seepage from the Kimball oil field near Palestine, Texas: photo by Marc St. Gil for the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica Project, June 1972 (US National Archives)

Church of Christ after Sunday services, Leakey, Texas: photo by Marc St. Gil for the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica Project, June 1972 (US National Archives)

A natural spring photographed at its source, Leakey, Texas: photo by Marc St. Gil for the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica Project, June 1972 (US National Archives)

Cypress swamp between La Place and New Orleans: photo by Marc St. Gil for the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica Project, June 1972 (US National Archives)

The contaminated water of Mill Creek. Waste from the Calcasieu Paper
Mill in Elizabeth, Louisiana flows Into the creek. Effects of chemical
pollution can be seen (and smelled) 30 miles south of the plant where
the creek runs through a large game preserve and forest: photo by Marc St. Gil for the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica Project, June 1972 (US National Archives)

The contaminated water of Mill Creek. Waste from the Calcasieu Paper
Mill in Elizabeth, Louisiana flows Into the creek. Effects of chemical
pollution can be seen (and smelled) 30 miles south of the plant where
the creek runs through a large game preserve and forest: photo by Marc St. Gil for the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica Project, June 1972 (US National Archives)

Chemical plants, New Orleans: photo by Marc St. Gil for the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica Project, June 1972 (US National Archives)

Dead fish and litter on Gulf Coast beach near New Orleans: photo by Marc St. Gil for the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica Project, May 1972 (US National Archives)

The
polluted Lake Charles, which has a dangerously high level of mercury.
Olin-Mathieson plant in background. Lake Charles, Louisiana: photo by Marc St. Gil for the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica Project, June 1972 (US National Archives)

Olin-Mathieson chemical plant, on far side of the lake. Lake Charles, Louisiana: photo by Marc St. Gil for the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica Project, July 1972 (US National Archives)

Chemical plants on shore are considered a prime source of pollution, Lake Charles, Louisiana: photo by Marc St. Gil for the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica Project, June 1972 (US National Archive)

Lunching on the beach opposite the Olin-Mathieson chemical plant. Lake Charles, Louisiana: photo by Marc St. Gil for the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica Project, June 1972 (US National Archives)

Jet comes in for landing, New Orleans: photo by Marc St. Gil for the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica Project, c. 1973 (US National Archives)

Shell casings are stacked outside "Domes". The domes are notorious for the lack of air circulation and the heat which builds up
Inside. Le Tourneau Marathon Ammunition Plant, Longview, Texas: photo by Marc St. Gil for the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica Project, June 1972 (US National Archives)

The
Atlas Chemical Company belches smoke across pasture land in foreground,
Marshall, Texas. The plant Is referred to as "Old Darky" in the
community because black soot from the plant covers everything near-by.
One farmer claims he lost several cows due to soot and chemicals from
Atlas: photo by Marc St. Gilfor the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica Project, June 1972 (US National Archives)

A Texaco crude oil tank in Houston blazes against the night after being struck by lightning: photo by Jim Olive for the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica Project, September 1972 (US National Archives)

A Texaco crude oil tank in Houston blazes against the night after being struck by lightning: photo by Jim Olive for the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica Project, September 1972 (US National Archives)

A Texaco crude oil tank in Houston blazes against the night after being struck by lightning: photo by Jim Olive for the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica Project, September 1972 (US National Archives)

A Texaco crude oil tank in Houston blazes against the night after being struck by lightning: photo by Jim Olive for the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica Project, September 1972 (US National Archives)

A mountain of damaged oil drums lies in a heap in an Exxon tefinery near Baton Rouge, Louisiana: photo by John Messina for the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica Project, December 1972 (US National Archives)

Off-shore oil wells in Galveston Bay, off the Texas shore: photo by Blair Pittman for the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica Project, June 1972 (US National Archives)

A couple in the waves of Galveston Bay, Texas: photo by Blair Pittman for the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica Project, May 1972 (US National Archives)

14 comments:

Most of these photographs were made by the late great Marc St.Gil (1924-1992). Some may recall that earlier on we ventured with Marc deep into the heart of Texas. Well, even deeper, perhaps one ought to say. That proved one of the most popular posts ever, here.

A tribute to the genius of the photographer -- people keep finding that one (somehow) and looking, and even coming back.

Not too long ago there came this belated comment, on that post:

citizenj said...

I was lucky to be a friend of the photographer, Marc St. Gil. He was a fascinating person. He was Dutch and had traveled the world as a photojournalist. He lived in Houston during the 70's and 80's. It's great to see his pictures again. 27 July 2013 20:38

From "The tomb in Palestine" to Palestine, Texas -- oh my, look how far we've come. Stevens' jar in Tennessee ain't nothin' compared to Texaco's blazing crude oil tank in Houston. Hats off to Marc St. Gill for catching all this on film. . . and to you for bringing it all to us 'here' -- where Fin whale washed up on the beach at Stinson was followed by sea lion washed up on Brighton beach yesterday (no visible sign of wounds, perhaps just a coincidence?).

8.22

light coming into fog against invisibletop of ridge, sparrow calling on branchin foreground, sound of wave in channel

rotation around this, which is when space is that

means, we arrive at a close approximation, assume

fog against invisible shoulder of ridge,gull flapping to the right toward point

The tap water in Corpus Christi tasted awful when I visited there recently. McGill’s photos stun the senses: we do this to ourselves, and proudly, (but blindly), and give it names like “progress” and “civilization” and “quality of life”. It’s never been easy living here under “the old chaos of the sun,” even when it was a garden; but The Machine is in us now, and there’s no stopping it.

The Environmental Protection Agency was nice to pay for these photographs back then. Great ironic turnaround on Stevens’ poem. Love the oil wells in the junkyards and cemeteries. That was just little ol’ Texas way back in 1972. Marc St. Gil’s Wading in the Water series made it clear that some of us kids understood that if Jesus was likely to show up soon, we might as well get high in the ruins. The ruins get higher still. Here is just some of the current oil damage that is in the news as the continuing madness of oil/gas/war/car/coal/electric/fossil and fissile fuel accelerates.

IMMUNE SYSTEM COMPROMISED

Weathered particles of oil found buried in the sediment in the gulf floorDeformed crustaceans; Dolphins dyingFish with lesions Massive die-offincreased mutationslarge network of pipelines that crisscross the United Statesdiluted bitumen oil particularly hazardousrefined from tar sandsjust spilled from the Pegasus pipeline &will travel through the proposed Keystone XL pipeline

BP oil spill dangers persisting: Researchers testing the toxicity of the Gulf of Mexico found that a portion of the spilled oil could have moved southeastward toward the Tampa Bay area, potentially affecting marine life in ways that might not be known for years. This is the latest reminder of the importance of tracking the spill's long-term impact.

The risks at Oconee are not unique, however. Comparable flood threats from upstream dams exist at dozens of plants such as Watts Bar in Tennessee, Prairie Island in Minnesota and the Fort Calhoun Station in Nebraska. These flood-vulnerable facilities represent approximately one-third of the country's entire reactor-based electric generation capacity.

And Finally, Oil Update On March 29, the Pegasus oil pipeline, owned by ExxonMobil, ruptured in an upscale suburb of Little Rock, Ark. While the 5,000 to 7,000 barrel oil spill is dwarfed by the Deepwater Horizon spill from just a few years ago, it nonetheless raises serious questions about the safety of the large network of pipelines that crisscross the United States. This is especially in light of the particularly hazardous nature of the diluted bitumen oil—which is refined from tar sands found at the Athabasca Oil Flats in Alberta, Canada—that traveled through the Pegasus pipeline and will travel through the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

One more truly ironic thing about the upcoming Oconee reactor complex meltdown"

. . . [T]the agencies which do have operational control over dams – the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Homeland Security – have all consented to the release of the material that NRC has chosen to keep hidden.

"It is no secret that water flows downhill," Douglass added. "This case is about the NRC shielding its negligence from public view."

"According to NRC calculations, the odds of the dam near the Oconee plant failing at some point over the next 22 years are much higher than were the odds of an earthquake-induced tsunami causing a meltdown at the Fukushima plant. In fact, NRC assessments conclude "a Jocassee Dam failure is a credible event."

The NRC has no direct control over the operations of these upstream dams.

I was listening to this forum on natural gas, and this lady scientist from UC Davis said there will be no green revolution, no change in our habits, no great conservation movement --not in our time, not in our grandchildren's time. There will just be dirtier and dirtier oil.

The Creator must have had a Master Plan, all right -- fashioning this paradisal continent in a way that invited the greedhead corporations to rush in and enrich themselves by fucking it (and all of us) up.

It's right there in that fine print I'm never quite able to make out until too late. Como siempre.

I'm glad I took a break from my work this morning to read, view and experience this, including all of the commentary. Otherwise, I think I'll be speechless for a while with a lot of images going through my mind, completely caught up in unresolved emotions. Curtis

The used car lot in the photo captioned "Oil derrick beside restaurant and used car lot, Kilgore, Texas: photo by Marc St. Gil for the Environmental Protection Agency's Documerica Project, June 1972 (US National Archives" used to be co-owned by my Dad back in the 50s and early 60s. It was called Green-Wingfield Used Cars back then.